Agriculture’s Mike Espy Turning Skepticism Into Acceptance : After a good start, the new secretary must now deal with competing interests of producers and consumers.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy had about 200 Northern Californian farmers--many of them rice growers--laughing uproariously when he recounted his response to a Japanese official who held one index finger in the air for emphasis and said that not one grain of American rice would make it into his country.

“I said, ‘Mr. Ambassador, you might as well be putting up your middle finger because that’s exactly what you’re saying to us,’ ” Espy told the farmers in a meeting here.

For the farmers, whose success depends heavily on exports, Espy’s words were a welcome sign that they have a strong advocate in Washington.

“I want to give them the sense that we are a different agency with a proactive attitude--that we won’t sit back and allow things to happen, and that we will aggressively and assiduously assert their interests in competitive circles,” Espy, a 39-year old former congressman from Mississippi, said in a recent interview.

As a young African-American lawyer from the South--in a job that has traditionally been filled by Midwesterners with farming backgrounds--Espy has a lot to prove to skeptics both in Washington and across the country.

In an effort to do that, he has traveled to 15 states in his first four months in office to meet with farmers.

Often, as they listen to him, the expressions on their sun-worn faces turn from skepticism to surprised acceptance.

“Mike Espy is a black man from the South who is closely affiliated to catfish and rice (interests). What does that mean to a Midwestern corn or soybean producer?” said Michael Dunn of the National Farmers Union, who was among 3,000 farmers at a gathering in March in Sioux Falls, S.D. “He comes from a different region of the country. He’s not a family farmer. He does not look like them. But he talks like them, and they like him.”

Congress also had reservations. Noting Espy’s unconventional resume, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) expressed concern that Espy does not “eat and breathe and sleep wheat and feed grains.”

Now congressmen and senators, as well as farmers, give Espy high marks for his early accomplishments. But they say it is too early to tell whether he will live up to the competing challenges he faces: serving farmers and consumers while streamlining the huge Agriculture Department, which has a budget of $62 billion and administers programs ranging from farm subsidies and food stamps to international hunger relief.

There is some concern that Espy’s special interest in rural development and nutrition programs may distract him from traditional farm interests.

But the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), said that is exactly what makes Espy a better secretary.

“The department’s agenda has been dictated too often by the interests of large agri-business,” Leahy said. “Espy does not come in there wed to the old-line, traditional special interest groups.”

But John R. Block, agriculture secretary under President Ronald Reagan, said the easy time Espy is having with farmers may end if his policies fail to increase farm incomes. “Their patience will not last as long with someone who does not appear to be one of them,” he said.

Espy knows that he is being watched carefully because of his “non-traditional” background. “I have no problem with that,” he says, “because we want to be noticed.” He believes his high visibility may even help him pull rural America into the Democratic camp and improve the reputation of the department and agriculture as a whole with consumers.

“In a raw political sense, I want to win farm country for Bill Clinton,” Espy said. “Democrats don’t win farm country, but I want to change that.”

He points to the steps he already has taken to gain the confidence of farmers and consumers in the department.

Right after being sworn in, Espy flew to Washington state to handle the aftermath of an outbreak of food poisoning from tainted hamburger, which killed four people and made hundreds sick.

He was praised by politicians, consumer groups and producers for maintaining consumer confidence in American beef, while criticizing the meat inspection system and pledging to modernize it.

Espy followed through by hiring 160 additional meat inspectors, mandating new labels with cooking instructions and ordering surprise checks of 90 slaughterhouses across the country. He closed 30 temporarily for violations.

Members of Congress, farmers and employees of the Agriculture Department say his biggest test--restructuring a department that has been broadly criticized for using too much tax money--still lies ahead.

By suspending awards for his staff, he has already made clear it will not be business as usual. Last year alone, cash prizes of $35 million were passed out. But when Espy faced hundreds of employees in the department’s Jefferson Auditorium a couple of “hallelujahs” rang out and he was given a standing ovation for his decision to review the department’s 42 separate awards to see if they are justified and fair.

“It makes a lot of sense,” said Carletta Gilchrist, who has worked as a secretary for the department for 22 years. “The senior executive officers get too much while we peons get nothing.”

Espy has a mandate from President Clinton to streamline his department and says he is determined to cut out full divisions in Washington and consolidate offices throughout the country.

But some employees fear his rush to change things may have unintended victims.

“We see some scary signs out there,” Steve Hollis, an Agriculture Department employee in St. Louis and an officer in the local branch of the American Federation of Government Employees. “The amount of money they are projecting to save seems really unrealistic unless they are going to close offices and lay off people.”

“Espy talks about how farmers will be able to use their computers to access our information,” Hollis said. “The farmers we support do not have computers and they are not going to have computers because they are poor. They often don’t even have telephones.”

He and other federation leaders want Espy to listen to these and other reservations before he forms his plan. But after three months of lobbying, they have been told that the best they are likely to do is a meeting with Espy’s deputy at the end of the month.

Other administrations have tried to cut the department’s bureaucracy and failed.

“When we came to Washington in 1981, we were hellbent on reorganizing the Department of Agriculture. But everything is still the same. People are resistant to change. You’re talking about eliminating jobs,” said Richard Douglas, a college classmate of Espy’s who worked in the department with the Reagan Administration. “Mike’s got to convince members of Congress and interest groups that a leaner, meaner Department of Agriculture is in everyone’s best interest.”

The Espy File

Name: Mike Espy

Age: 39

Birthplace: Yazoo City, Miss.

Personal: Married to Sheila Bell; two children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science from Howard University, 1975; law degree from University of Santa Clara, 1978

Political stands: Has opposed gun control legislation in the House, supported the death penalty and backed prayer in public schools. During last year’s presidential campaign, Espy campaigned frequently for Bill Clinton and defended him when he came under attack from civil rights leaders.

Career: Attorney for Center for Mississippi Legal Services for two years and in 1980 was appointed Mississippi’s assistant secretary of state. In 1984, appointed assistant attorney general in Mississippi. First elected to Congress in 1986. Spent six years on House Agriculture Committee.

Sources: Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, Times staff